Mobile City Council's newest member explains issuance fee vote

City Councilman C.J. Small, in his first meeting as a member of the council, was one of two votes against a proposed to keep the city's business license issuance fee at $10. Small supported a city staff recommendation to raise it to $12. (File photo)

MOBILE, Alabama – A $2 boost in the fee charged to business
owners when a business license is issued
was "really not that much money" and that revenue generated from it would have
gone toward something productive, the Mobile City Council's newest member said
today.

Councilman C.J. Small, 34, who was sworn in last week, said
he voted against a proposal to keep the fee the same because a $2 increase isn't
a big deal.

Small and Councilman William Carroll were the only two to
vote against a proposal to keep the issuance fee on business licenses at $10.
They supported a city staff recommendation to boost it to $12, which is the
maximum allowed by the state.

"You spend that much going through McDoanld's drive-thru,"
Small said about the proposed $2 increase. "I can see (concerns over an
increase of) $15 to $35 to $200. But $2?"

Small, who is a private business owner and who says he pays
into several business licenses within the city, added that the increase wasn't
a burden on the city's 18,000 or so businesses.

The increase would have raised $36,000 that would have gone
into the city's general fund.

"I don't have any problem paying more if I get something
nice in return," Small said. "(The increase) wasn't that much."

He said the increase could have raised money that would have
gone toward paying the city's required match on a federal grant to clean-up the
old City North annex. The city's portion of that match will likely come from
in-kind contributions.